Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.Kunz, George Frederick
History
Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.
Kunz, George Frederick
Rings; Rings -- Folklore
The legendary ring of Helen of Troy is said to have borne as its
setting an astroites or star-gem taken from the head of a mysterious
fish called pan, because in appearance it resembled the god Pan.
Perhaps the gem was simply one of the head-stones existing in certain
fishes of other species. This stone, which emitted rays of flame, was
conceived to be a most potent love-charm, drawing to its wearer the
love of anyone he, or she, might wish to fascinate, and the particular
specimen of this strange gem which Helen wore was a signet, engraved
with the image of the god by whose name the fish was called.[477]
Among the rings miraculously found after they have apparently been
irrevocably lost, was one of iron given to Seleucus I, Nicator
(365–281 B.C.), whose wide dominions stretched from the western
seaboard of Asia Minor to India. This prized ring was lost by chance
near the river Euphrates, but was later recovered at the very spot
where the ruler’s mother had predicted it would be found.[478] Whether
this was revealed to her in dream or trance the recital does not
state.[479]
A talismanic bronze ring in the British Museum is set with an amethyst
on which has been engraved a human eye, evidently a charm against the
Evil Eye. This dread influence was also combated by a peculiar type of
ring having gold nails or studs inserted in them. This is a Græco-Roman
type of about 500 to 200 B.C., and does not appear to have
gained favor with the Romans. In a large and massive gold ring of the
late Roman period, the entire bezel has been given the form of an
eye. This ring weighs 975 grains, or over two ounces; it was found in
Tarsus, and belongs to the third Christian century.[480]
In a few ancient rings gold and silver have been combined, as shown by
a striking example in the British Museum, where the upper part of the
hoop is of gold and the lower half of silver. This has been conjectured
to have been designed to render the ring a talisman, the joining of
gold and silver having a similar effect to that obtained by inserting a
gold nail in the bezel of a silver ring. The bezel of the massive ring
we have noted is set with a sard engraved in intaglio with the design
of a shepherd seated on a rock.[481]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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